Following QPR’s Asmir Begovic’s dismissal for a lunging challenge on him, Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford may be subject to retroactive action from the FA if they find him guilty of misleading an official.
Leeds are back to winning ways in the Championship with a 1-0 win over QPR, a performance that didn’t exactly get the pulses raising for 90 minutes at Elland Road.
Crysencio Summerville’s cool finish in the first half proved to be the difference between the two sides, seeing Gareth Ainsworth’s men come out on the losing side.
As the game looked to be heading towards a fairly routine win for the home side, with the R’s not mustering up much in the way of attacking threat or ball retention, Leeds looked like they had the chance to kill the game late on.
A searching long ball from Pascal Struijk found the run of Patrick Bamford, who was faced with an onrushing Asmir Begovic, and as Bamford nudged the ball beyond the ‘keeper, he lunged in with a challenge that saw the Leeds striker go to ground.
A red card was brandished, but replays showed that there was little or no contact between the two to force Bamford into going down.
Begovic protested greatly to referee David Webb, but to no avail as striker Lyndon Dykes was forced to go in goal for the remainder of the match.
With Ainsworth confirming post-match that both players involved said that there was no contact from Begovic, it looks as though an appeal will be successful from the R’s.
The issue that Leeds have is that the FA could investigate Bamford’s successful deception of an official, with this ruling in place:
“Where there is clear and overwhelming evidence to suggest a match official has been deceived by an act of simulation, and as a direct result, the offending player’s team has been awarded a penalty and/or an opposing player has been dismissed, The FA will be able to act retrospectively under its Fast Track system.”
As the footage indicates and Bamford has himself admitted, the evidence doesn’t look good for the striker, and this is what would await him:
“In accepted and/or proven cases of simulation and/or feigning injury, the offending player would receive a two-match suspension.”
